Thanksgiving with Cousins

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. It deserves a much longer post which I don't have time to write today. Instead, I'll share these fun cousin pictures that Sophie took when she borrowed my phone.

So Many Leaves

I was in charge of singing time on Sunday. We needed to start learning When Joseph Went to Bethlehem, but I also wanted to include Thanksgiving in our activity. I had several ideas, but nothing really gelled until I was walking down the hallway to set up right before primary started.

I asked the kids what holiday was happening this week. A few said Christmas, but at least one knew it was Thanksgiving. Then I asked about their Thanksgiving traditions. After a few of them answered, I told them about our Thanksgiving tree tradition. Then I drew a bare tree on the chalkboard. If I had known beforehand that this was the plan, I would have asked Bryan to draw it. The kids had to make do with my artistic attempt instead. I told them they were going to help me fill in the leaves on the tree.

Then I taught them the first verse of the song. After we'd sung the whole verse at least once, I told them that they would get to decide how we practiced it, but they would need to pay a price first. They all looked shocked. I told them that the cost of a practice suggestion was saying something they're thankful for. For example, the first little girl that I called on said she was thankful for her family. After I wrote that on the tree and drew a giant leaf around it, she said she wanted us to sing opera-style. It was awesome.

The kids were creative (we sang county-style, danced disco, mooed like cows, took turns between the boys and the girls, and spoke the words in fancy British accents along with the music) and we all got to think about things we're thankful for. I added the last item: I said I'm thankful for primary and then we all stood and sang like we will in our Christmas sacrament meeting. 

I think it was a success.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Wizard and I

We were invited to a free showing of Wicked on Monday with some friends, so we went! We loved it and have all been singing the songs since we saw it. Topher sang along (quietly) with a few of the songs during the movie. It is rated PG-13 and I tried to find out in advance why it got its rating without reading any spoilers. That was tricky. I chose to distract Topher during one short scene in the beginning and there's a very flirtatious character, but I'm not sure that either of those things earned the rating. There's also a scene with the flying monkeys that's pretty intense, but that was about it.

And yes, I wore green on purpose.

All Will Be Revealed

Sophie had to do a science project at home and make a video of it to turn in. Bryan helped her through the process. She demonstrated how to make and then reveal invisible ink. This was the message she wrote for her class:

Follow the Instructions

Cooper spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday. He did a wonderful job. One of the primary kids commented to me after that he spoke really fast. I told her he had slowed down to give the talk. I don't think she believed me.

Here's his talk:

In the book of Ether, we see the account of the Jaredites and their journey to the promised land and their life there. One of the biggest parts of this story is how they traveled across the ocean with the help of the Lord.

We see another example of an ocean expedition in 1st Nephi, which is very similar to the journey of the Jaredites. First, both groups began in a situation where their setting was wicked, and so the Lord gave them instruction to leave and travel to a promised land. The Nephites were in danger from the Babylonians, and the Jaredites were in danger from the wickedness of the people who built the Tower of Babel. Interestingly, both Babylon and Babel come from the same Hebrew root meaning “confusion.” So, in both accounts, the people are living in confusion, and the only way for them to be saved is by turning to the Lord. The Lord also gives both groups very specific instructions on how to build ships for them to be saved.

The brother of Jared is told on how to build these vessels by the Lord, but faces problems. They cannot steer, cannot breathe, and cannot see. So, the Lord gives three examples of what the brother of Jared can do. First, He promises to do all the steering Himself using the wind and the waves. Second, He tells the brother of Jared to do specific things in order to make windows for air. And third, He tells the brother of Jared to come up with his own idea for light. One requires only the Lord, the second requires both the Lord and the brother of Jared, and the third requires that the brother of Jared comes up with the solution himself and then turns to the Lord. The brother of Jared brings his idea to the Lord, asking him to touch stones in order to light them. And the Lord agrees to this, lighting the stones and providing the people with light. Because of the brother of Jared’s faith, he is then able to see Jesus’ finger and full spirit body, after using his faith in Christ to find a solution to his problem. When we have faith, we will also receive answers to our problems. 

The journey of the Jaredites then begins, but it was not easy for them. The waves crashed into the ships and the winds were constantly blowing, but the Lord did not cease to offer assistance when they turned to him. Ether 6, verse 3 says: 

“And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness.”

This tumultuous ocean can represent life’s challenges and the extremely difficult things that we as humans face. What are the lights that we see today? God has given us Prophets to turn to for modern revelation and specific teachings that, with faith, will help us overcome today’s challenges. We also have the scriptures, which can always be studied, they can always be pondered, and we can always receive guidance from prayerful and faithful searching. Which brings up prayer. We can always turn to the Lord in prayer for more light to guide us.

Ether 6, verse seven says: “And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.”

How often in life do we go beneath the surface of the water? How often do we have struggles and trials that seem impossible to deal with? It’s part of our mortal journey and part of how we grow. But like this verse says, when we cry unto the Lord with sincere prayer, he will bring us to the top of the water again.

Finally, after struggling for 344 days, the Jaredites arrived in the promised land.

Ether 6, verse 12, which says “And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.”

I love this whole account of the Jaredites, how they started in a confusing world, but through faith turned to the Lord and were able to make it through the intense sea, to the promised land. When we turn to the Lord in faith, at least hoping that He will help us, then we will receive guidance from Him and be able to make it through our mortal journeys, no matter how many bumps we hit on the road, or waves we hit on the sea.

As Elder Aroldo B. Cavalcante said in the October 2024 session of General Conference, “Each of us—and those around us—faces our own storms of opposition and waves of trials that submerge us daily. But ‘the wind [will not] cease to blow towards the promised land … ; and thus [we shall be] driven forth before the wind.’”

I have a testimony that when we turn to the Lord in faith and listen to His instructions, we will have strength during our trials. I know that the Lord gives us prophets, scriptures, and personal revelation for their instructions. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Frosted Flakes

We had our first snow of the season today. It didn't stick at our house, but there was enough in the air for Topher to catch on his tongue on the way to the bus stop!

The Little Boy and the Old Man

Topher and I have read a few Shel Silverstein books this year. I read this poem from A Light In the Attic last week and I keep thinking about it. Every time I reread it I wonder if I'm one of the grown-ups mentioned. I hope not.

Kind Like Katie

Today is the 3rd Annual Day of Kind Deeds. My friend Ali and her family established this day to honor her youngest sister after she passed away. I met Katie when she was visiting Ali. My kids felt like they were meeting a celebrity because we had watched Katie's episode of Random Acts. You can watch it using the QR Code below. The other QR code will take you to a video about Katie.

Consider this your invitation to do some kind deeds today, just like Katie.

What They've Learned

Topher and Sophie each got to write their own parts for the primary program. I read the prompt to Topher one Sunday after church and he dictated his talk to me on the spot. I asked a few clarifying questions, then wrote it all down. Sophie's took a little more time and a lot more effort on her part. They're both great talks.

Topher's talk:

My favorite story from The Book of Mormon is when Nephi and his brothers went back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. God told them to go get the plates because Nephi's family needed them to learn more about God and Jesus Christ. It's my favorite story because I like how they never gave up and how they kept trying. They obeyed what Heavenly Father asked them to do. That took a lot of faith.

Sophie's talk:

This year during my study of the Book of Mormon I have learned that it takes faith to share the gospel with people. I like the story in Alma 17-19 about a woman named Abish. She was a servant in King Lamoni’s household who had great faith in and love for the Lord. One day a man named Ammon came to the Lamanites and preached to the king and queen about Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong that everyone fell to the ground and did not move. Abish saw them and recognized what had just happened. Alma chapter 19 verse 17 states: 

“17 Thus, having been converted to the Lord, and never having made it known, therefore, when she saw that all the servants of Lamoni had fallen to the earth…she knew that it was the power of God; and supposing that this opportunity, by making known unto the people what had happened among them, that by beholding this scene it would cause them to believe in the power of God, therefore she ran forth from house to house, making it known unto the people.”

Abish wanted to show the people so they could feel how she felt. I love this. I want to be like Abish and share the gospel with my friends. At school one day I was wearing a bracelet that said “I Am a Child of God.” A friend saw it and asked if I was Christen. I said yes and that I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Saints. I am very glad that I got to share with someone what I believe in and I look forward to more missionary opportunities.

I bear my testimony that when we share the gospel with others that we are gathering Israel and we are making Jesus and Heavenly Father happy. 

Primary Program: Accomplished

Yesterday was the primary program. 

I took this picture the night before to document some of our preparations. The folders held scripts, one for each adult that assisted, plus one for the podium. The index cards became name cards that I taped to the benches so all the kids and grownups would know exactly where to sit on the stand. Every kid had a primary program buddy, another primary kid to sit with. We paired a big kid with each little kid to facilitate reverence and tried to split up the busiest, chattiest children. We also asked the Bishopric to sit on the stand among the primary kids. They, along with our three primary teachers that were in town (which included Bryan), helped the kids stay calm while they waited for their turns to speak and sing.

All nineteen of our active primary kids were there and eighteen of them spoke their part clearly into the microphone. Our youngest and littlest sunbeam let me pick him up and hold him up to the microphone while I said his line clearly and he repeated in a low mumbly voice, "I don't want to." His older sister has an intense case of stage fright. We had a back-up plan for her part in case she wasn't up to delivering it. But she didn't need the back-up plan! She said her part into the microphone and did a great job!

I had taught all the kids the sign language to The Church of Jesus Christ. We practiced it for three months. Most of them did it last week at our final practice. Then almost all of them forgot it yesterday. A friend told me how much she enjoyed watching Sophie's sign language solo. Well done Sophie for remembering the sign language!

Sophie also had an official solo. The did a beautiful job singing the second verse of We'll Bring the World His Truth. This was her last primary program since she's turning eleven before the year ends. She was feeling kind of melancholy about that. Her solo was for her benefit, but also for mine. I realized I didn't have time to teach all three verses of that song to the primary kids. So instead I taught them the first and third verses and asked Sophie to take care of the middle verse. I'll miss her lovely singing voice and thoughtful responses next year when she's in Young Women.

I said that all nineteen of our primary kids were there, and that's true, but we actually had twenty-one kids participate in the program. There's a sweet family that started bringing their ten-year-old son and six-year-old daughter to primary in August. I never saw them in Sacrament meeting and couldn't find them in the ward directory. Someone had told me that Egyptian was their first language and that they were in another ward in the Stake. Someone else told me that they traveled between Virginia and Pennsylvania for work. The mom speaks very little English, so most of my communicating was with the dad. Even then, I didn't know much about them. I just happily welcomed the kids each Sunday and said hello to the parents when they came to take the kids home.

At the end of our second practice last week, the dad came up to me and asked what time he should have the kids there for the primary program. I told him I was so happy they could be there and gave him the time. Then I asked the kids if they wanted to have speaking parts also. They both said yes and we talked about a person from the Book of Mormon that they would want to talk about. The dad gave me his name and number so I could text him the parts during the week. Those were the only lines I wrote for the program, all the other kids wrote their own parts with the help of prompts. I felt that in this case, these kids would need a little more help.

They came yesterday, nervous but excited. Their dad told me that they travel for his job (I think he's a translator, but I'm not certain) so they've never been able to be in a primary program before. This was their first time. The kids both did a great job. The parents were beaming while watching their kids. That was one of the sweetest parts of the day for me.

Overall, I think it was a success. And I'm already planning for next year.

We Should Be Doing Bedtime...

But we're taking selfies instead.

Let Your Light So Shine

During that beautiful day outside on Monday, Phoebe decided to listen to an audiobook while sitting in her favorite tree. Sophie saw her up there and demanded that Phoebe toss her phone down. Sophie had had a flash of photographic inspiration. She took all the photos that follow in this post. After, while we were looking at the pictures and admiring her work, Phoebe teased that she had inspired Sophie. Sophie told us she'd been inspired by the sun. In all of these pictures, her focus was on the light.

I think they're beautiful, the pictures and the girls in them.

Blue

Somebody (I really don't know who) gave Topher a large blue Airhead after church.

And this is what happened during the baptism.

Do Unto Others

We attended both our old ward and our new ward on Sunday. We went to our old ward at 9:00 to support our young friends and watch their Primary program. It was both wonderful to witness and so sad to see all these kids that I don't get to work with anymore. We got lots of hugs and some shared tears.

Then we went directly to our own meeting which starts at 11:00. That included our second and final practice for the Primary program. Right after that was a baptism for a young man who had a remarkable conversion story. By the time we got home we had just enough time to change, make a quick dinner, wolf some of that food down, and get back in the car.

Cooper, Phoebe, and I spent the hours from 5:00 until 8:30 preparing, serving, and cleaning up dinner at a local emergency shelter. It functions out of the basement of a church during the six cold months of the year to provide food, shelter, and showers to those without. I was simultaneously incredibly thankful that it exists and incredibly sad that it needs to exist. The people we served were so thankful. Phoebe took the job of handing trays of food out the window between the kitchen and the dining room. I joined her near the end. One woman came up to the window and asked if we were from a school. I told her we were from a church. She asked which church. I answered, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." She grinned, said thank you, and left.

I didn't anticipate how exhausting standing for three and a half hours would be. After that very long day, I fell asleep at 10:30, which is a totally normal time to go to sleep, but not at all normal for me. I slept for nine and a half hours that night.

I guess the moral of this story is that spending a full day serving others leads to a really great night of sleep.

Enjoy It While It Lasts

The high today was 64 degrees and the low was 44. Tomorrow the high is forecast to be 46 degrees and the low will hover around 27. I'm never ready for the temperature to drop so low. The kids took advantage of the relatively warm day and spent time outside. It helped that our school district doesn't hold school on Veteran's Day; there was more time to be outside.

Brotherly Love

"Cooper, will you help me study the gospel?"

Artist's Eye

Sophie, Topher, and I went to a costume party on Saturday night. They had a huge yard and an amazing art installation that reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. Sophie was inspired and kept borrowing my phone to express her artistic soul through pictures. I took the first picture, the rest are Sophie's.

In the Clouds

This evening, while driving home, I looked out the front window of my car and saw these clouds. I was stopped at a red light and my phone was on my dashboard showing me directions. I tilted the phone in its stand and clicked a picture. There were dark clouds below and bright, sunlit clouds above. I suddenly had the impression that the dark clouds could represent the turmoil and sadness that sometimes exist on earth. Those bright clouds above were a reminder that God is there and He loves us, even when things aren't going well here.

Sometimes clouds can be a tender mercy.

Doing My Duty

The adults in our household (including Peter) all used mail-in-ballots this year. I dropped mine off last week and got an email on Friday that it had been received. I'm thankful that we live in a country where we get to add our voices and vote.

All Treats, No Tricks

Topher snagged us some spooky glasses at the trunk-or-treat on Wednesday night. We wore them just long enough to take pictures.

We only got out twenty minutes late to trick-or-treat vs. our standard thirty minutes. Our township allows trick-or-treating from 6pm to 8pm and we walked about two miles during that block of time. The temperature got up to the 80s during the day, so no one needed a jacket while we roamed around the neighborhood.

We returned home sore from walking and hauling those heavy bags of candy.

Yes, Phoebe was green. She got lots of positive comments on her costume. A few people even guessed that she and Sophie were characters from Wicked, though most people thought Sophie was a princess.

Bryan sat at the end of the driveway and handed out candy to the approximately twenty kids that came by. We have A LOT of candy left over.

A Glimpse

I just got home from attending an Endowment session at the Philadelphia Temple. I went to support a sweet friend from my old ward who was going through for the first time. If my count is correct, there were at least twenty-one of us in attendance to encourage and support my friend and her husband. I've never been in a session with so many people that I hold dear. None of us wanted to leave the Celestial Room when it was over and I kept thinking, "This is what heaven will be like."

It was wonderful.